Leaving Las Vegas

Yesterday I wrote about Etienne de Villiers falling on his sword and reversing what was undoubtedly the worst decision for men's tennis in recent memory. I also wrote about James Blake’s seeming unawareness that as a player rep he is supposed to uphold the letter of the law when it comes to how players and management interact. I wonder what they’re teaching those folks at Harvard? Things seemed to be simmering down when I posted my thoughts and I went about my day thinking everything was settled.

But I was wrong. It seems de Villiers did not fall on his sword mouthing “mea culpa” voluntarily but that he was pushed. Ironically it was not by the Vice President of the Player’s Council but the very players whose views the Player’s Council is supposed to represent. Despite their conciliatory public remarks both Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin are said to have threatened to pull out of the tournament if de Villiers didn’t reverse his decision. Russian tennis guru Shamil Tarpischev is also said to have expressed his opinion. Since Marat and Lleyton were the other two semi finalists one can only imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth that took place among the powers that be in the ATP. I’m sure the hallways of ATP headquarters were full of men and women dressed in sackcloth and covered with ashes while they waited for their leader to make the only logical decision he could make. I’m told the sword wound is superficial and should heal nicely.

Good for them and the other players who are also said to have read the riot act to the numbskulls trying to perpetrate this particular fraud. It seems the players are going to have to stand up for themselves when and if this situation arises again. Twice in as many weeks is a bit much no?

Adding fuel to the fire the reigning Prince of Tennis also spoke out. He didn’t say much about the situation last week in Buenos Aires where another player, Juan Carlos Ferrero, showed he has a moral compass and refused pretty much the same offer the ATP made to James Blake but after he was asked about it he had plenty to say.

"Everybody knows I was against it (the round robin system) in the first place," said Federer. "It's actually very disappointing to see things like this had to happen first before you realise that the system is not going to work.

"Nothing against Etienne de Villiers, he's trying his best, but all I hope is he doesn't change the integrity of the game.

"I've always said you have to keep tennis the way it is and not try to change and mix it up and try too many things at the same time. He's burned his hands on that, that's for sure, and I doubt it's going to happen next year, the round robin system.

"It's going to be interesting to see their (the ATP's) reaction now because they're definitely under pressure. I think it's a bad situation that happened."

http://www.eurosport.com/tennis/atp-dubai/2007/sport_sto1104980.shtml

Roger has been against the round robin system and has said so before. It must burn de Villiers because his brain trust came up with the round robin idea so that paying fans would get to see the likes of Roger, Rafa, Roddick, Blake, Davydenko and other stars more than once during an event. It didn’t matter that this shafted the lower ranked players like Korolev or Lapentti because frankly who cared the reasoning had to have gone. I guess it didn’t occur to them that everyone in the top five was once a struggling up and coming player. Until Roger Federer beat Pete Sampras no one was paying much attention to him. With the changes the ATP is contemplating up and coming Roger doesn’t even get to play the then Prince of Tennis Sampras.

I wanted to post the ATP’s official statement which had been posted on www.tennischannelopen.com but it’s no longer there. I went to the ATP site and I didn't see it there either. Fortunately mmmm8, one of the posters at talkabouttennis.com did post a link to the official statement. I tested the link, it still works. I also saved a copy just in case the link stops working.




http://www.tennischannelopen.com/atp_statement.aspx



Here is the link to the public comments by Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt along with the only timeline I’ve seen. It’s a long read but it’s worth it.

http://tennisworld.typepad.com/travelblogue/2007/03/merrygoroundrob.html

I also tested this link and it works.

I’m not sure why the official statement was removed from the Tennis Channel Open website. I thought it was a sign that someone at the ATP understood the cloud over the tournament and men's tennis and thought it best to give fans the ATP perspective at the source so to speak. Maybe they had second thoughts in light of what was coming out. I don’t know. I do know that both Nicolas Lapentti, who is coming back from injury and Evgeny Korolev got to play as far as they could in the tournaments they entered which is what tennis is all about.

The ATP by removing their official statement from the web site of the tournament that was affected is sending the wrong message to both players and fans. I don't think this is quite what Roger had in mind when he spoke about waiting to see the ATP's reaction. It is an interesting one, but not one that enhances the decisions made by the ATP brass.

As for Blake I hope he is heeding the calls of his fans. James' fans have been openly pleading with him to stop talking because his comments are making it hard for them to defend his actions in this situation. The comments made by one of his peers about Blake, instead of being forgotten, are now back in the tennis public's awareness. They were not flattering and James' actions here have thrown dirt on his pretty much squeaky clean image.

I didn’t think this situation would result in three posts but apparently there’s no end to the ATP Follies.

As the situation warrants I’ll return to the subject.